2.  Minutes from the meeting held on 23 January 2008

Under Item 8.  Any Other Business "MD has a suggested idea for the future of SP" is incorrect and should read "MD had an idea..."

The remainder of the minutes were agreed to be an accurate record.

3.  Matters Arising

It was agreed that matters arising from the previous meeting would all be picked up within the main agenda items.

4.  Update from Supporting People

Team Update

Lesley Lancelott has rejoined the Manchester SP team as a Special Projects Officer following her secondment.  Lesley will be picking up on the work with older people services, older people housing strategy and sheltered housing demand/supply and the extra care housing strategy.  She will also be doing work on Individual Budgets and the QAF refresh.  The updating of the QAF has come from feedback form providers and also service users and will involve working together with these groups and CLG.

Lee Morgan has been appointed as a Review Officer whilst Catherine Campbell is on maternity leave.

A full team re-structure is currently being developed in order to meet the needs of the LAA.  Sally Hobbs is now the Accountable Officer for Supporting People and Head of Allocations and she has found that these roles do have a great deal of overlap.  Mike Simpson (former Accountable Officer) is now working on the stock investment programme.

The new Lead Officer position will be advertised for secondment in the coming week and so we would hope to have someone in place in the next 2-3 weeks.  The secondment will be for a possible 3 month duration in the first instance whilst competitive interviews take place for the permanent position.

Domestic Abuse Strategy

The DA model has recently been reviewed and widely consulted upon with stakeholders, providers and service users.  A new model has been approved which will be delivered this year.  There will be one service that will become a centre of excellence and will provide an immediate access point for women and their children.  This service will go out for tender shortly.  There is also a new model for refuge and outreach services that will be citywide.  This again will go out to tender.  The aim is to provide a seamless service across the city.  SP will look into holding an open day for any interested providers to ask questions about the tender.  Men's domestic abuse is still an area that needs to addressed.

Move on Plan Protocol (MOPP)

Recent provider training has been held, provided by Helen Woods a a consultant who has been jointly commissioned by Homelessness and SP to carry out this project.  The providers have been asked to complete a questionnaire with the results from this forming a strategy and action plan that will be rolled out.  The draft strategy is hoped to be ready for consultation at the provider and service user consultative forums.

Alex Sporidou suggested that the scheme consults with floating support as they can feed their expertise into the project.  Sally Hobbs commented that this would be a good idea but the issue would be the scope of the project.

There are still a number of providers who have not responded to the questionnaire.  Can all providers involved in the project please ensure that they have completed and returned the questionnaire?

It was queried whether each provider taking part would meet to be met.  Sally Hobbs advised that the plan is to meet with approximately 12 providers due to time constraints and for each service to discuss with their Service Users on how widely they want to consult.

It was noted that the SUN network have not mentioned the project and so Sara Gilmartin (Service User Involvement Officer) will ask Helen Woods to attend a CUG meeting to discuss this with service users.

Consultative Forums

Provisional dates have been held for the Service User and Provider Consultative Forums:

Service User Consultative Forum - 6 May 2008, Bridgewater Hall

Provider Consultative Forum - Date and Venue TBC - original date of 23 May will be revised as it coincides with school holidays and so attendance may be affected.

For the Service User Consultative Forum it was suggested that for the workshops, providers could facilitate the table discussions. This will be discussed further in the organisation of the event and volunteers sought.

For the Provider Consultative Forum, volunteers were sought to discuss the content of the day.  The following people offered to assist in this Eva Holt, Alex Sporidou, Gareth Clarke, Chris Britain, David Ryan and Cate Mullen.  A meeting will be arranged to discuss this further.

PIF Representative Elections

The elected members were announced (see attached for full list of members).  There are 3 client groups that are not represented due to lack of nominations and so further nominations have been requested and will be announced shortly.

Once all representatives have been announced, nominations will be sought for chair and vice chair outside of the PIF meetings along with the nominations for representatives to attend the Core Strategy Group.

5.  Service User Update

Funding for the Core User Group (CUG)

Mike Delaney updated the group on the current funding situation of the CUG.  Northwards have made a financial contribution to the CUG in which they would like to pass on their thanks.  The Valuing Older People Board, on which Mike Delaney, sits have agreed to make a donation of a minimum £500 due to spending shortfall and so the exact figure will be announced shortly.

Response to CLG Cuts in SP Funding

Mike Delaney, as secretary of the CUG has sent a letter to CLG copying in Sally Hobbs and Paul McGarry to raise the CUG's concerns over the SP funding cuts as discussed at the previous meeting.  Mike commented that although this is unlikely to have an impact on the funding decision, it would help raise the awareness of the CUG and let CLG know that they do have a voice.

Further to Mike's suggestion under AOB of the last meeting providers are already involved in self assessment in regard to the Quality Assessment Framework (QAF) as are service users when taking part in the Peer Assessment Programme.  The suggestions was to create a self-regulatory body that is a 50/50 partnership (providers and service users) to ensure supply of best services.  This could in turn create a more effective voice at a LAA level, with service users and providers working in partnership.  Mike Delaney suggested that a study group be set up to discuss if the scheme would work and, if so, how.  Following on from this, a pilot scheme could be set up and a grant applied for from the ABG to fund the pilot. If there are any providers wishing to be involved in this study group they should contact Mike Delaney directly.

Steve Leonard read out a letter that he has received from a provider noting how valuable the work of the CUG is.  It described how the involvement they have had in the CUG has helped their service users sense of achievement and has been instrumental in their achievement.

CUG Assistance

Following the discussions and request for further details of the assistance required by the CUG, a timetable of the meetings have been distributed to all current members of the PIF.  Members are asked to consider if they are able to offer any assistance for a particular meeting and advise Sarah at Supporting People on s.crewe@manchester.gov.uk or on 0161 234 4317 (Please see assistance sheet attached).

6.  Provider Feedback

No provider feedback was noted.

7.  Agenda Items and Venues for Future Meetings

It was decided that the next meeting should be held at City Centre Project as the good practice session will be on the Young Person's Task Force.

8.  Any Other Business

No other business was noted.

Date of Next Meeting

The next meeting will be held on Wednesday 14 May 2008 - 1.30pm to 4.00pm (good practice session at 1.30pm with main agenda starting a 2.00pm).

Venue:  City Centre Project, 52 Oldham Street, Manchester, M4 1LE